Everything seemed normal for Matt Smith on his Saturday morning qualifying pass at the Las Vegas NHRA Nationals.

Smith, the 2007 Pro Stock Motorcycle world champ, clocked a 6.985-second pass at 190.67 mph in the right lane at The Strip.

Just after Smith crossed the quarter-mile finish line, he was in trouble because he had no brakes.

Smith, who rides the Al-Anabi Racing Buell, could not slow down and he went up the hill and eventually came to a stop after crashing in the pea gravel trap at the end of the track. Smith walked away from the accident under his own power.

Everything seemed normal for Matt Smith on his Saturday morning qualifying pass at the Las Vegas NHRA Nationals.

Smith, the 2007 Pro Stock Motorcycle world champ, clocked a 6.985-second pass at 190.67 mph in the right lane at The Strip.

Just after Smith crossed the quarter-mile finish line, he was in trouble because he had no brakes.

Smith, who rides the Al-Anabi Racing Buell, could not slow down and he went up the hill and eventually came to a stop after crashing in the pea gravel trap at the end of the track. Smith walked away from the accident under his own power.

“They said when I left the starting line, the brake pad was laying on the ground,” Smith said. “There is a bolt that holds the two pads in and the bolt vibrated loose and the pad was there. I had no front brake whatsoever and the rear brakes, they do not stop these bikes at all. They’re just there for show. Soon as I pulled the brake on the handle bar, I knew I had no brakes. I kept pumping and pumping them. Then, I put my right foot down and it started getting hot and I pulled it up. It burned a whole through my shoe.”

With his motorcycle not slowing down, Smith went into survival mode.

“I just wanted to try and keep the bike straight up, but I couldn’t, and I had to go in at over 100 mph into the gravel,” Smith said. “They have little ruts down through there (in the run-off area) and I got right in the rut and all of a sudden the rut turned and I couldn’t turn enough. The bike laid down and it pitched me plum off and I landed on the back of my head, and it kind of dazed me for a little bit. I tumbled about 30 to 40 feet past my bike.”

Angie Smith, Matt’s wife and fellow Pro Stock Motorcycle racer, watched Matt’s run unfold in front of her eyes. Angie was preparing to make a qualifying run, in the same right lane, right after Matt.

“It is really hard when you’re married to somebody and you compete together,” Angie said. “Then, you see them down there and they are not in the position they usually are. It shook me up pretty good. We went out there and made a good run down the race track. It was good, but it is hard. When you look up and see your husband up there, I wanted to get down there and give him a hug. I wanted to see for myself that he was all right, but I knew I had to make a run.”

Angie did climb off her Coffman Tank Trucks Buell for a few minutes while the NHRA Safety Safari was tending to Matt, but she knew her place was at the starting line.

“I know without a shadow of a doubt that he (Matt) would want me to make the run,” Angie said. “No matter what, I knew that’s what he wanted so that’s what I did and I knew I could get down there to see him. When I saw him (on the AC Delco vision screen) get up and he was laughing, that made me feel a little better. When he came inside our hauler, I hugged him and I told him I loved him.”

Smith was especially frustrated about his wreck because his bike was making its debut this weekend.

“I was pissed because this is a brand new bike, and that was just the third hit on it,” Smith said. “We will see what happens if I can ride it again. I have my other bike in there (in the hauler).”

Smith says he also crashed his Pro Stock Motorcycle several years ago at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pa.

“That was a long time ago, but that time I just stopped in the sand,” Smith said. “I didn’t get thrown from the bike that time, like I did this time.”

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